Gender Selection

GENDER SELECTION

Prevent certain genetic disorders through gender section

At CACRM we offer gender selection, also known as sex selection. Gender selection may be considered for medical reasons or for family balancing.

Gender Selection for Medical Reasons

When gender selection is used to prevent a genetic disease, the process is called “medical gender selection.” In sex-linked diseases, genetic diseases are inherited via the mother, and only male offspring are affected. This type of genetic diseases include muscular dystrophy and hemophilia, among others. Parents who are carriers of these genetic diseases may want to reduce the risk of having affected children by having female babies only.

In other cases, conditions are more severely expressed in one gender (Fragile X syndrome, Autism, etc.) than the other. Parents who are carriers of one of these genetic diseases can choose to have babies of the gender associated with a less severe form of the disease.

There may also be psychological reasons. For example a single female may feel better equipped to have a daughter than a son; parents who lost a child may feel a strong need for a child of the same gender.

Elective Gender Selection

Sometimes gender selection can be “non-medical” or “elective.” In such cases, a child of a specific gender is desired without obvious medical indications. The most frequent indication for such gender selection is “family balancing,” when one gender is already represented in the family unit and the other gender is desired.